Storm slams into Kennywood, rattles entire region

It was particularly poignant that Kennywood, one of the nation's few remaining urban amusement parks and a beloved icon perched on the cusp of summer revelry, would literally be at the heart of a brief but horrific wave of destruction May 31.

A violent storm -- meteorologists term it a "macroburst" -- ripped through West Mifflin, the East End and Lawrenceville, toppling trees and triggering power outages. Some early estimates set the damage costs at more than $10 million.

Kennywood's 80-acre campus sustained damage to its rides, structures and landscaping. The park, owned by the private company Kennywood Entertainment Co., said it was too soon to toss out numbers and declined to speculate on lost revenue from closing its gates for three days.

The emotional cost outstrips the financial loss: Stephanie Wilkerson, a visitor to the park, was killed when the roof of the pavilion at a popular ride, The Whip, collapsed. More than 50 others, including small children, were injured.

The regional damage was widespread, sporadic and almost selective. For example, the Kaufmann's flagship store at Ross Park Mall, which has a separate generator, lost power in the storm while the rest of the sprawling two- and three-story shopping center was unscathed.

Kennywood, as much for what it symbolizes to Pittsburgh as for what happened there, became the center of the storm. Its employees had basically two minutes warning of the abrupt storm's arrival, due to the park's system of color-coded stages that advise employees of pending emergencies and responses.

In handling the physical and psychological damage, CEO Harry Henninger seemed determined to proceed with the low-key dignity for which the park is known.

Some decisions were made quickly, including the announcement that anyone holding a ticket dated May 31 or June 1 through June 3, would have it honored any day in 2002 or 2003 without an additional charge.

Deciding when the park would reopen was a daily call. When it did open June 4, a few rides -- The Whip, the Paratrooper and the Kangaroo -- were not open.

THE IMAGE

On May 30, Kennywood spokeswoman Mary Lou Rosemeyer had dashed off a jaunty e-mail to her media-laden correspondence list -- Kennywood had switched Internet purveyors -- and enclosed the weekend agenda. Among the highlights were the huge annual carpenter's union picnic on June 2 and, on May 31, a delegation of 10 Russians, guests of the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors and the Library of Congress, who would take their first ride on a roller coaster at 5:30 p.m. Luckily for the Russians, they were delayed by other activities.

"I was waiting for them, but by 6:30 they hadn't arrived and so I left," Ms. Rosemeyer said.

On the way home, she stopped to buy groceries and was in a supermarket when the storm hit. Then her cell phone rang. "Someone at the office called and told me I had to get back," she said.

She was part of the cadre of Kennywood staff putting in extraordinary hours in the wake of the storm. Mr. Henninger said many worked 18-hour days, as clean up and repair to the grounds and facilities proceeded and events were rescheduled.

"Ironically, this is the first year we'll be open (to the general public) after Labor Day, because we'd run out of space for company picnics," said Ms. Rosemeyer.

The carpenter's picnic will be held Sept. 8, more than three months after its original date.

Meanwhile, the park's preparedness and its actions in the aftermath have come under scrutiny. Mr. Henninger said the warning system is being assessed but indicated it was effective given the unexpected nature of the storm.

"When something like this happens, everyone steps back and says, `Was enough done to either prepare or protect the safety of the park's guests,' and that's what's happening now," said Jerry Thompson, managing director of Ketchum, Downtown, the region's largest public relations practice.

Although he is not involved with Kennywood, Mr. Thompson said the situation was analogous to any crisis situation.

"The main thing Kennywood needs to do is treat, first and foremost, the families of the victims and the victims themselves with dignity and respect," he said. "And that's not something they would do through the media."

A pop-up window on Kennywood's no-nonsense Web site (http://www.kennywood.com) acknowledged the tragedy: "We at Kennywood are stunned and saddened by the terrible storms of Friday night. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were injured and to the family who lost a loved one."

The message went on to express appreciation for the community's offers of support, but asked anyone wanting to volunteer to assist others in the community recovering from the storm.

Ms. Rosemeyer said Kennywood wasn't changing its advertising campaign, which centers on its "sixth in the world" ranking by the Discovery Channel program, "Thrills, Spills and Chills." Nor is it altering placement of the commercials.

In the ranking, Discovery Channel cited Kennywood's reputation as "one of the most traditional, old world amusement parks left in the world," said Rege Sabol, principal and creative director, at Flaherty Sabol Carroll Marketing Communications, Downtown, which has developed broadcast advertising for Kennywood since 2001.

Mr. Sabol, whose parents and grandparents all worked at Kennywood at various stages of their lives, feels a special connection to the park.

Normally, an amusement park's TV ads center on new rides.

"I thought the ranking was as big as a new ride opening," he said. "All of us who grew up here with the fact that you went to Kennywood for your school picnic; it's in our backyards, we take it for granted."

Mr. Sabol created six 15-second spots focusing on different top ratings received by the park, from french fries to coasters.

POWER PLAYS

Much remains to be resolved in communities hit by the storm.

Duquesne Light Co. is still tallying the financial impact of the storm on the company, in terms of damaged equipment, overtime and other factors, according to spokesman Joe Balaban.

Many of the repairs the company performed were temporary and will require additional attention.

"We're really still in the midst of reviewing and repairing," Mr. Balaban said.

About 60,000 of Duquesne Light's 580,000 customers lost power. The last customers' service was restored around 2 a.m. on June 4, Mr. Balaban said.

A ballpark figure for how much the storm will cost Duquesne Light and how much will be covered by insurance will be available later this week. The company carries insurance to cover damaged equipment, additional wages and other problems related to storms and other catastrophic incidents, but it was unclear how much the deductible would be, Mr. Balaban said.

Under mutual-assistance agreements Duquesne Light has with neighboring utilities, it was able to tap the services of 135 additional workers to help with repairs. The workers came from First Energy's Cleveland office; Allegheny Power's Fairmont, W.Va., office; Pepco's Washington, D.C., and Maryland regions; Penn Power and Light's Harrisburg office; and Conectiv's New Jersey and Maryland regions, Mr. Balaban said.

"This is the most assistance we've had to have since the July 1998 microburst that devastated the South Hills," he said.

A tornado that hit Mount Washington in June 1998 was relatively confined, so the damage did not require outside assistance, Mr. Balaban said. Duquesne Light serves customers in Allegheny and Beaver counties.

Greensburg, Westmoreland County-based Allegheny Power also is still calculating the cost of the storms, according to spokesman Allen Staggers. It calculates operating costs on a month-to-month basis, so it should have a better idea by the middle of July, he said.

However, Mr. Staggers said storm-related expenses, such as having to pay for overtime or new equipment, are included in the company's rate structure and are part of its annual budget. The company is self-insured against such costs, he said.

About 34,000 of Allegheny Power's 680,000 Pennsylvania customers were left without power following the storm. The last customer's power was restored by the afternoon of June 2, Mr. Staggers said.

Allegheny Power serves 1.4 million customers in parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and Virginia.

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS

Verizon Communications Inc. is still determining just how many customers were left without phone service after the storm toppled trees on lines, said Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski.

Verizon employees worked overtime, however, getting telephone service back on in areas affected by the storm, including Lawrenceville, Monroeville and Uniontown.

None of the phone company's central offices were damaged, but five -- in West Mifflin, Braddock, Wilkinsburg, Homestead and Turtle Creek-- were working off of backup generators.

He said new poles will be laid and new telephone cables will be strung by the end of the week. Most customers' telephone service was restored over the June 1-2 weekend.

Mr. Gierczynski did not have a cost estimate on what the repair work cost Verizon.

Neither did AT&T Broadband spokesman Dan Garfinkel, who said 75 additional employees were called out to work on outages to the cable company's lines.

"The cost estimate just in overtime alone is a lot," he said.

About 45,000 customers were without reception including 5,000 customers near Babcock Boulevard in the North Hills when a tree took out three fiber-optic cables containing 132 fibers.

Most customers were back up by June 2.

Mr. Garfinkel said AT&T Broadband serves more than 1,000 small businesses with broadband service via cable, but since the storm hit after business hours Friday, most of the high-speed data customers had gone home for the weekend.

Stargate.net Inc. monitors its customers continuously and found that during the storm from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday that 209 customers had problems with Internet service, according to Ken Hill, senior vice president of technical operations.

Normally, during that time of the day Stargate sees about 10 customer issues. Mr. Hill said loss of power caused 99 percent of the problems. Of the 209, about 50 were businesses.

He said some business customers in Lawrenceville were without power -- and hence without Internet service -- for 30 hours.

The tech community seemed to fair well otherwise.

"Our customers weathered the storm," said Dain Gary, vice president of security services for Downtown-based RedSiren Technologies Inc., which monitors computer systems for businesses. "We had no interruption in service and had no discernable problems in the network."

Nidhog Inc., a Web hosting and Internet service provider on Penn Avenue in Bloomfield, lost power for a short time but a generator kicked in to maintain operations.

"Our neighborhood here in Bloomfield got hit pretty hard," said Jamie DeHart, Nidhog's owner. "We got power back pretty soon, but two blocks down the road was still out. It's pretty much status quo now."

Down the road at 3618 Penn Ave. in Lawrenceville, Labwerks Inc. had prepared for the worst after previous outages earlier this year threatened their computers by installing a generator.

"We beefed up our backups to accommodate outages," said John Kuntz, Labwerks president. "It always seems to happen on the weekends, so everything's automatic."

CHIPPING IN

Meanwhile, area companies are finding different ways to aid and accommodate those who suffered injuries or whose homes were damaged through the storm.

PNC Financial Services Group, the region's largest bank, partnered with the Salvation Army to establish the Salvation Army Summer Storm Relief Fund for victims. Donations, via check or cash, are being accepted at PNC's 103 Western Pennsylvania branches, and will be used by the Salvation Army to provide direct assistance to those most impacted by the storms. PNC is providing paperwork so the Salvation Army can issue receipts to donors.

Todd Cover, president of Great American Federal, said the community bank is rolling out a zero interest Disaster Recovery Loan program to residents of West Mifflin, Munhall, West Homestead and Homestead whose houses were damaged by the storm.

Deadline for applications is July 31.

INSURANCE IMPACT

The deadly storm will be a topic for discussion at the next monthly meeting of the Insurance Professionals of Pittsburgh. After discussing the storm aftermath with other insurance professionals, the group will have a better feel of its total impact on the insurance industry, said Marie Garlitz, president of the 45-member association. But the amount of money actually spent on insurance claims resulting from the storm will take months before it's reported, she said.

"Until all the claims are in, you don't know what the impact is going to be to insurance companies," Ms. Garlitz said. "It takes a while to accumulate."

Ms. Garlitz said the storm is likely to impact all of the agents in Pittsburgh -- "some harder than others." She said the underwriters and agents that write insurance policies for property and businesses in West Mifflin will be hit harder because of the severe damage there.